| August 14, 2003 | Thursday | Jumadi-us-Sani 15, 1424 |
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Mismanaged relief
Matter of right not charity
ON its 56th independence anniversary, Pakistan seems no closer to finding an answer to the constitutional and political problems that have plagued it almost since its inception. Who rules Pakistan, the military or the people? This question has never been satisfactorily answered, and continues to raise its head with disturbing regularity. There have been general elections, both fair and unfair, there have been referendums based on flawed premises and producing disputed results, and there have been interregnums of representative government that have been characterized by misrule and wrongdoing and made it a simple matter for the army to again get back into power. With constitutional processes paralyzed for long periods, democratic institutions have been stunted, giving rise to an aberrant political culture. We have insisted on experimenting with various systems of our own making, sometimes taking the country close to becoming a theocracy and at other times seeking to capture something that we call the essence of democracy.
Today’s Independence Day again catches us in the middle of trying to find a compromise between what the military believes Pakistan needs and the principles laid down in the 1973 Constitution. We have an elected government in power, but it does not have the authority to take decisions on fundamental issues. It is engaged in halting negotiations with some political parties whose credentials the military does not fully question, but even these parties are unable to completely agree to the constitutional changes brought about by the Legal Framework Order. A consistent effort is being made to marginalize the country’s two largest parties. In such circumstances, the entire exercise has assumed the shape of a political charade, with newspaper columns full of contradictory statements.
In this protracted struggle between politicians and the army, both have suffered a loss of popular trust. The people have seen the two wrangle as economic and social problems have piled up. It is not as if there has been no progress and development: it would have been impossible to stand still for five decades. But the benefits of development have been unevenly spread, and mostly have accrued to the privileged classes. The state of deprivation in which the poor live was starkly underlined during the recent spell of heavy rains in Sindh and Punjab. Most of all, there is a sense of general disorientation: we do not know where we are headed and what we want to make of our country. There has to be a future for Pakistan beyond all the skulduggery of the past and the present.
This will be possible only if the basic right of the people to govern themselves is unreservedly and unequivocally recognized. Democracy is often confusing business, but it appears even more so in our circumstances because the structures that support it — the constitution, parliament, the judiciary — have been systematically weakened. The generals have been guilty of repeatedly blocking the political process; the politicians have been guilty of treating their own electorates with contempt and of flagrant abuse of office. But in 56 years, if we had let the stream of democracy flow unchecked, we might by now have learnt to cope with its swirls and eddies, and matured as a nation. The biggest crisis is the domestic crisis. It remains to be seen if we have learnt any lessons from our experience so far or we will be writing along much the same lines next August 14.
TUESDAY’S protest by 200 villagers from Badin in Karachi is just one indication that the government’s relief effort to aid the people of Sindh’s flood-affected areas is being thoroughly mismanaged. The relief committees, led by elected representatives, have been accused of being biased and failing to deliver aid to those who need it most. In fact, even Badin’s own Nazim led a protest rally in that city on Tuesday demanding the suspension of the district’s relief committee. The constitution of these committees a few weeks ago was a politicized affair, and the consequences of that are now unfolding before us. The chief minister should closely monitor the performance of all such committees and reconstitute those which have failed to deliver with more able and less opportunistic members.
Many parts of Badin — the worst affected district — are still inundated, and medicines have yet to reach many flood victims. Nothing has been done to repair the damaged infrastructure, and even drinking water is not available in many relief camps. The Badin DCO’s contention that the closure of 44 of the 81 relief camps is a positive sign because it means that the water is receding could very well mean just the opposite. The people could be leaving the relief camps because they are not getting much help there and not because, as the DCO would have us believe, the situation is improving. To prevent a public health catastrophe, the government should see to it that the demands of the villagers are promptly met. The propaganda being broadcast on PTV every day that hundreds of relief-laden trucks are being despatched to the disaster region must be replaced by more objective reports that could persuade the more affluent segments of society to come forward and help. The Sindh government should not only increase the amount of assistance being sent to the flood-affected areas but also seek to ensure smooth coordination between the various agencies taking part in the relief operation.
IN a gesture of compassion, Karachi’s Nazim has asked the Pakistan Disabled Foundation to come up with a proposal to build a cultural and community centre for physically handicapped persons. His promise that he would ensure that such a project would be completed within his tenure is indeed welcome, but the fact is that special people, particularly children, need educational opportunities more than they need cultural or community centres. Successive governments have failed to formulate any coherent policy vis-a-vis the problems encountered by disabled or ‘special’ people. A cultural or community centre might not be a bad idea in itself but a plan that provides special people, particularly children, learning and educational opportunities to enable them to become productive members of society would appear to be more realistic.
The World Health Organization’s figures for the number of disabled in Pakistan are staggering: 4.2 million physically disabled, mainly because of polio; 2.8 million mentally retarded and 4.2 million are deaf. Over 40 per cent of this total of 11.2 million disabled people is made up of children, most of whom have no educational opportunities at all. The government and non-governmental organizations together have established around 375 special education centres but they can only cater to 40,000 students, less than one per cent of the number of special children of school-going age. The government’s approach to providing special children the same opportunities as those with no disabilities needs rethinking. Some might feel that special people, particularly children, deserve our sympathy or pity, but what they need more is a recognition of the fact that they have as much right to education and skill-enhancing opportunities as those with no disabilities. The whole concept of helping special people out of charity or self-guilt needs to be changed. They do not need free meals at fancy restaurants as much as they need the support of the government and society that see them as human beings endowed with abilities and treat them as equal citizens.